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VOCAL: Open Source VoIP Software for Linux

Posted by timothy on from the taunting-the-phone-company-dragon dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "While most Open Source projects are applications and utilities intended for single users, David Bryan and David Kelly did something different. They created an infrastructure project -- a VoIP phone system that either can run on a single box attached to a couple of IP phones or can scale up to a network of hosts processing hundreds of calls between thousands of users. In this informative technical article at ELJonline, Bryan and Kelly detail the 'Vovida Open Communications Applications Library' ('VOCAL') project, a fully functional phone system that can run on either Red Hat Linux or Sun Solaris."

5 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. yep... by mattdm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apache, sendmail, bind... famous open source projects designed for single users. It's a good idea someone came along to do this new innovative infrastructure sorta stuff. Maybe someday we can have a whole inter-network of computers using open protocols.

  2. So, what should I do now? by g4dget · · Score: 5, Interesting
    H.323 and associated protocols for video conferencing and collaboration have been standardized for a while. They are kind of messy, but there were Windows implementations like NetMeeting, Linux implementations like Open H.323, and commercial implementations like CU-SeeMe (for Windows and Mac). These things could even talk to one another and to GnomeMeeting.

    Fast forward to 2002. Microsoft still kind of ships Netmeeting with Windows XP Home, but there are no shortcuts, their documentation discourages you from using it (it also blue-screened my XP machine when I tried running it). Instead, they want you to use Microsoft Messenger, which only seems to want to talk through Microsoft's servers. Yahoo! give you video conferencing, but only through Yahoo! messenger and only on Windows. CU-SeeMe doesn't seem to exist anymore. In fact, I couldn't find any Windows or OSX H.323 implementations.

    Instead, now the next thing seems to be SIP (Session Initiation Protocol, which is curiously what Vovida is based on. Well, it's kind of like HTTP, and that's nice compared to H.323's ASN protocols. MSN Messenger seems to be using it. There is Linphone, which is SIP based and works on Linux.

    But... how do we do cross platform video conferencing now? Microsoft Messenger may speak SIP, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't let me do machine to machine calls. Even if it did, GnomeMeeting doesn't seem to support SIP (yet?) and Linphone doesn't do video. And MacOSX, as far as I can tell, is almost completely out in the cold; at least, I couldn't find any commercial video conferencing software for it. The closest is the OpenH.323 sample applications, running under X11 on MacOSX. That's not exactly what you can ask average Mac users to use.

    So, if I want to do cross-platform video conferencing between Linux, Windows, and/or Macintosh, what software and protocols should I use?

  3. Vovida.org by Hatter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why wasn't a link to the project's actual webpage in the submission? Here it is.

  4. Replace the Phone Company!!!! by efficacymanUM · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Now all we need is to create some sort of secure database, where people could donate use of thier landline (for local calls in their area code) for a period of time in exchange for credit to make calls to other area codes. It would be similar to ham radio telephone relays. Now all we need is a single combo ip/telephone # so that it would call your computer first (for long distance) and then your home phone. I suppose this could be implemented with dyndns.org or another similar service. Anything to spite qwest!

  5. How will this newcomer work with asterisk? by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Asterisk is the VOIP/phonesystem software package for linux, and has been for over 3 years now. It sounds like this VOCAL is a framework for call routing (just like asterisk) but without the POTS gateway abilities.

    Also, I have had great luck with my 20 VOIP blasters running in basically a P2P mode with only asking for directions from the phonebook server...

    I have yet to impliment a POTS gateway using asterisk because the internet phonejack cards are horribly expensive. Anyone else here doing linux Voip?

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.